Memorabilia > Colonial & CIVIL WAR era through 1880s AMERICANA

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Visitors to our online shop are encouraged to scroll from page to page and enjoy browsing the wide variety of our full inventory or to utilize the word search by entering key words and phrases. ( Always use lower case for best search engine results. ) We hope you find our catalogue informative, entertaining and fruitful.

Item #

Description

Price

Click for more detail...6045

7th Kentucky Cavalry – WALLET & INK SCRAPER
A remnant of one of our many Civil War Show trips South in years past is this neat little pairing of a period wallet ink inscribed Capt. R. Collier 7th Kentucky Cavy. and a period Joseph Rogers Ink scraper inscribed R. Collier with a scrimshaw style entwined R.C. monogram. Robert Collier was a forty-one year old resident of Buckeye, Garrard County, Kentucky when on August 4, 1862 he enlisted and was commissioned on August 16, 1862 as Captain of Co. H 7th Kentucky Cavalry. Capt. Collier was promoted to Major on May 29,1863 and transferred from command of Co. H Field & Staff of the Regiment. He remained with the 7th Kentucky Cavalry until February 21, 1865. Collier’s wallet is interesting beyond the inscription in that its usual long form was cut in half with the raw end stitched so as to shorten its length to one half. Clearly a period alteration the short wallet would fit nicely in the inner breast pocket of a cavalry jacket. The leather wallet remains soft and pliable with solid stitching. The bone handled ink scraper or eraser is maker marked JOSEPH ROGERS & SONS – S. NORFOLK St., SHEFFIELD. (Rogers opened his shop at this location in 1825.) With good evidence of period use and honing of its blade the bone grip shows evidence of consistent use over a clearly period scratch engraved script inscription in the same hand as the wallet identification. Set aside for years in our accumulation of neat stuff mostly due to our fascination with the interesting period alteration of the wallet, it is time to move it along to an appreciative new home. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!

Your Price: $275.00

Click for more detail...6005

original! Pat. 1864 marked BUTTONHOLE SCISSORS
A nice item for the Civil War sewing table or sewing basket, this pair of adjustable buttonhole scissors remain in excellent original condition while offering good evidence of age and originality. Of particular interest to Civil War enthusiast are the PAT. DEC. 1864 markings. Don't forget to give our search feature a try for special wants. A simple key word in lower case works best. Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques !!

Your Price: $50.00

Click for more detail...5883

antique pharmaceutical PILL ROLLER
A desirable 19th century pharmacist’s tool of the trade, this brass bound walnut pill machine is best known by collectors as a pill roller and will fit nicely in any collection of Civil War medical items. (see: Pictorial Encyclopedia of Civil War Medical Instruments & Equipment by Damman ) In the period the making of pills entailed the creation of a dough like material containing the necessary medication, rolling out that dough to form an appropriately sized quarter inch thick sheet. The pharmacist placed the dough sheet on the machine base and pressed the top or paddleover the sheet drawing the paddle back and forth cutting and forming the material into cylindrical strips which were cut to appropriate length to afford the proper dosage and rolled into pills. The base of this this all original and period pill machine measures approximately 13 7/8 X 7 ¾ inches with a 16 inch paddle. All complete and functional this device offers good evidence of age and period use yet remains in excellent condition with a pleasing untouched age patina. We have left the brass as found, uncleaned and unpolished just as it came out of decades of storage. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques! :

Your Price: $225.00

Click for more detail...6063

rare! late 18th century early 19th century Bronze - PEWTER SUGAR SPOON MOLD
A rare find for the late 1700s early 1800s pewter or Americana collector is this scarce small sugar spoon mold. A classic period bronze mold used in the casting of small (4 13/16 long) pewter spoons with 15/16 inch wide by 1 5/8 inch long bowl, this rarely encountered sugar spoon mold measures 5 9/16 in total length. Emanating from an old collection dating from the days when such treasures could be found, this all mold offers a deep natural patina with complete period originality to include an unusual half funnel design as opposed to the usual full funnel as provided by a half funnel at the mouth of each of the two pieces. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!

Your Price: $225.00

Click for more detail...6052

rarely seen original Civil War vintage – BANDANA / HANDKERCHIEF
After decades of storage this all original and clearly period 17 inch square cotton bandana remains in fine condition throughout with bright unfaded figured colors. A classic, seldom surviving example of a simple everyday utility, this rarely seen period textile offers good evidence of creation on a narrow earlier to mid-1800s loom as it is stitch bound on three sides with a loom finished edge on the fourth. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!

If you have an interest in neat Civil War period things with a personal history you may enjoy our museum site at:

MaineLegacy.com

Your Price: $225.00

Click for more detail...6094

Civil War personalized bone ring of MEDAL of HONOR recipient Mjr. Charles Gould – 5th & 11th Vermont
Acquired directly from the Vermont estate and offered at auction some years ago with a number of inscribed books from his personal library (2 included here as additional provenance) this historic Civil War folk art bone ring of Congressional Medal of Honor winner Major Charles G. Gould remains in pleasing original condition with eye appealing natural age patina, good evidence of period wearing and, most importantly, convincing provenance. Initially acquired by us to be retained in our personal collection of Civil War vintage folk art carved bone, (see: www.MaineLegacy.com) we have decided to offer the piece to another appreciative home as our own Civil War collection is focused on Maine related artifacts. With a myriad of resource material in print and on the internet (see: Roster of Vermont Volunteers During the War of the Rebellion 1861-66 - Deeds of Valor / How our Soldier-heroes won the Medal of Honor - The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War ) suffice it to say here that Charles Gould, a resident of Windham, Vermont, was a mere three months into his seventeenth year on August 13,1862 when he enlisted as a Private of Co. G 5th Vermont Volunteer Infantry. Promoted to Corporal, December 27, 1863, Gould was commissioned as Lieutenant of Co. F of the 5th Vermont Infantry before transferring on December 22,1864 to be commissioned into Co. E 11th Vermont Vol. Infantry. Wounded April 2,1865 at Petersburg, Virginia, Gould was awarded the Medal of Honor for Gallantry in assault and capture of Petersburg on that date. Per his Medal of Honor citation Gould was Among the first to mount the enemy's works in the assault, he received a serious bayonet wound in the face, was struck several times with clubbed muskets, but bravely stood his ground, and with his sword killed the man who bayoneted him. Promoted Major by Brevet for his gallantry at Petersburg, Virginia, Gould mustered out on June 19, 1865. After the Civil War he lived and worked in Washington D. C. returning to the family home in Vermont in retirement. He died at age seventy-one and is buried in the Windham Central Cemetery, Windham, Vermont. While the circumstances of the carving of the bone ring and exactly when he started wearing it have been lost in time, considerable period wear, (significantly heavier on the right side indicating that it was likely worn on the left little finger), and the usual history of these period popular pieces among the lower enlisted ranks, would indicate the ring was likely acquired early in Gould’s service and worn throughout the War. As such, this wonderful personal artifact of the hard fought New England Congressional Medal of Honor recipient would have been worn through action at the Battle of Crampton's Gap, Antietam and Fredericksburg, Salem Church, Gettysburg, Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, Cedar Creek and finally Petersburg on April 2, 1865 where despite being cut on the head by a sword and bayoneted in both the spine and mouth Gould managed to kill the man who had bayonetted him in the face he was credited with being the first man of the Sixth Corps over the Confederate works. (see: Don Troiani’s limited edition print of Gould in action Medal Of Honor Petersburg, April 2, 1865. Provenance will include our own letter attesting to our knowledge of the estate auction, a copy of the advertisement published by the auctioneer holding the Gould estate sale and a signed statement of provenance by the auction worker / collector who acquired the Gould ring from the estate. Additionally the ring will come with Gould’s signed volume of the Gettysburg National Military Park Commission - Annual Reports to the Secretary of War, 1893-1901. While included here simply as remnant of the estate sale, this signed by Gould, hardbound government edition is a nice Gettysburg item in and of itself . Also included as a memento from Charles Gould’s Vermont estate will be a copy of Kennon’s MANUAL OF GUARD DUTY published by the War Department and inscribed to him in 1891.Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!

If you have an interest in neat Civil War period things to include personals, carved bone & more, you may enjoy our museum site at:

MaineLegacy.com

Your Price: $895.00

Click for more detail...6083

Inscribed ! - Civil War CDV photograph – Mjr. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes
This nice original inscribed Civil War photograph in CDV format is back marked E. & H. T. Anthony from Photographic Negative of Brady’s National Portrait Gallery. The photograph is of Mjr. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes . Keyes graduated from West Point in 1832 and served for a time in the pre Civil War years as aide-de-camp to Gen. Winfield Scott. He commanded a number of expeditions against Indians in the northwest where he took part in a number of engagements. A brigade commander at 1st Bull Runn, Keyes was in command of the 4th Army corps, at Lee's Mills and in the Siege of Yorktown. He was brevetted to Brig. General for his conduct in the battle of Fair Oaks. Resigning from the army in 1864 Keyes settled in San Francisco and became involved in gold mining. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!

Your Price: $125.00

Click for more detail...5864

hand crafted antique - MUSICAL BONES
A popular musical relic from as early as the colonial era, the rhythmic rattle of musical bones graced many a gathering aboard ships bound for the New World, at colonial New England shindigs to social festivities of the Southern plantation African American. City street bands and country minstrel shows, on overland trail hoedowns and military camp festivities through the Civil War era, North and South, the cracking rhythm of musical bones mixed with banjo, fiddle and washtub creating many a make do musical entertainment. Hand crafted from beef or ox rib bone, original early examples are seldom encountered today as with time they were cast aside in favor of commercially made wooden bones. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques! :

Click for more detail...6084

1700s early through mid 1800s HANDWROUGHT ICE CREEPERS – original leathers!
Untouched and as found after decades of attic storage, our photos will offer the best description of this offering except to advise that this set of blacksmith wrought ice creepers is completely original even to retaining their period leather fasteners. Classic period repurposing seems evident here as the tops of used up boots saw additional usefulness on these creepers. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!

Your Price: $135.00

Click for more detail...6099

Civil War era BONE TOOTHBRUSH
This nice out of the attic toothbrush of Civil War vintage material, style and construction remains in excellent condition after decades of storage. A full complement of natural hog bristles remain as secured as the day they were set in the 6 ½ inch long bone grip. Unlike fancier specialty items, such common remnants of everyday life were generally used up and ultimately cast aside in the period, seldom to be preserved. Accordingly such simple things rarely survived to be made available for appreciation by the modern collector. A neat every day item necessary to complete any fully equipped personal grouping. (see: Philip’s Excavated Artifacts from Battlefields & Campsites of the Civil War & Damman’s Pictorial Encyclopedia of Civil War Medical Instruments & Equipment ) . Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!

Your Price: $65.00

Click for more detail...6047

Civil War surplus - W. Stokes Kirk Phila. – Military Surplus 5th CORPS BADGE
Offered here priced individually are original die cut and paper backed, 1 1/4 inch, wool, sew-on 5th corps badges 1st , 2nd, & 3rd division your choice while they are still available (1st Div.-5th Corps sold). [ We only have the two 5th Corps devices left but have similar examples available in 6th and 14th Corps search: Stokes ] Acquired several years ago now when we were fortunate enough to purchase a number of items brought home as keepsakes by a late W. Stokes Kirk clerk when the Philadelphia based military surplus dealer closed up shop in 1976. Founded in 1874, W. Stokes Kirk like Bannerman in New York purchased large quantities of still available Civil War surplus at government auction. Seems like an impossibility now but we can remember the two offering original Civil War material as late as the 1950s. This piece offers a now rare opportunity to acquire such an item from what for years now has become an ever dwindling and now a nearly nonexistent supply. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!

Your Price: $95.00

Qty:

Click for more detail...6060

Civil War vintage Gentleman’s FROCK COAT
Our photo illustrations will likely do best to describe this desirable Civil War vintage coat except to advise that while demonstrating qualities of age and originality with the most minimal of staining and mothing, the coat remains in excellent condition throughout and is guaranteed to please per our below stated no questions return policy. The frock sports a full complement of its original cloth covered breast buttons with one piece gold wash disk buttons at the tails, is quilted at the chest and has pockets in the tails. With no tears, repairs or alterations the coat will display nicely on an adult medium form. As scarce as mid 1800s uniform coats are, they tended to be put away and preserved with much more frequency than their civilian counterparts as the later were used up and eventually cast away, most frequently to be cut up as scrap for small sewing projects, mending and even cut into narrow strips for rug making. As a consequence the surviving original Abe Lincoln type gentleman’s frock coat so popularly seen in period photography is seldom encountered on today’s collector market. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!

Your Price: $595.00

Click for more detail...6066

19th century Steer Horn - VASE
Measuring approximately 19 inches around the curve from tip to mouth this beautiful old steer horn vase offers an unusually appealing grain figure set off by an attractive natural age color that comes to old breed white steer horn with the passing of decades. Still retaining the original protective brass finial at the tip, the mouth is fitted with applied, scalloped sheet brass with a brass eye such that the vase may be hung in use or simply utilized as a shelf or table setting centerpiece with a floral or greenery spray. A popular 1800s ranch or country home decoration frequently serving as a remembrance of a favorite steer. Solid and in pleasing condition with no cracks or holes, this all original country steer horn vase offers exceptional color and grain. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!

Your Price: $95.00

Click for more detail...6072

scarce ! period Maine redware - single serving BEAN POT
Too small for anything but single serving camp use, these little 3 ½ high by 3 ¼ inch mouth diameter, pottery bean pots must have lost favor for all else as period examples have disappeared from the scene even here in Maine where the little native red-ware pot was a natural to the baked kidney bean eating Yankee. Easy to carry and high in protein, dried beans were plumped by soaking in water prior to being place in the pot with, if one were so fortunate, a healthy portion of molasses, touch of brown sugar, pinch of dried mustard then topped with a cube of salt pork. Buried to the rim in the coals of a campfire with a flat stone to cover the mouth and hold in heat, the little pot would soon offer a tasty, trail hardy meal. Emanating from a Maine farm attic, this little gem remains in excellent, unused condition and offers good period characteristics to include the telltale raw outer surface with interior glaze. Consistent with the field practice of using a stone, there is no inner lip for a cover as was common to larger homebean pots. Surviving in as new and unused condition with no chips, cracks, or other issues this little period Maine baked bean pot will be a nice find for the Civil War era personal item enthusiast! Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales!Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!

If you have an interest in neat Civil War period things or Maine in the time, you may enjoy our museum site at:

MaineLegacy.com

Your Price: $75.00

Click for more detail...5943

Civil War vintage 6th ARMY CORPS DEVICE
This 6th Corps, Army of the Potomac device is approximately 1 5/8 inches square and is constructed in the style referred to in the period as extra rich with heavy bullion surmounted over its’ crimson velvet center of the 1st Division. The piece came to us years ago from the personal collection of Dr. Francis Lord who authored the old standard Lord’s Civil War Collector’s Encyclopedia. The badge has a classic cotton gauze backing and as you can see remains in fine condition. As with all direct sales, we are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with refund of the purchase price upon return as purchased! Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!

Your Price: $245.00

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